Robotics

Two research teams are developing new ways to communicate with robots and shape them one day into the kind of productive workers featured in the current AMC TV show (now in second season). Programming robots to function in a real-world environment is normally a complex process.

Some scientists see drug usage as an irrational notion for an intrinsically logical, problem-solving machine with no base biological cravings, but the desire to explore one’s interior and override programming may be something a sentient machine is bound to do.

How does a group of animals — or cells, for that matter — work together when no one’s in charge? Tiny swarming robots–called Kilobots–work together to tackle tasks in the lab, but what can they teach us about the natural world?